We can sit tight thinking we have a pat hand when it comes to the knowledge of who He is, or we can remain open to further revelation. The former is truly dangerous, for if we think we have arrived and have not, and seek no further, we just may come up short. If we remain open, however, then even if we have all knowledge of Him, we cannot be hurt.
The Savior Yahshua said in John 7:37: “He that believes upon Me, as the scripture has said (the way that the written word really portrays the Savior), out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The next verse states that He was talking about the Spirit that believers would receive after He was glorified. The Spirit just doesn’t come and manifest Himself if we have not believed on Yahshua the way the scripture has said that He really is. Then the Spirit will make Himself known, flowing and gushing out from within our innermost being like a mighty river. But we must know Him as He is truly portrayed in the scriptures. Those of us who do not come to the full truth of what He is like, who He is, and how He operates, will not have the privilege of the Spirit streaming out of our mouths, pouring out salvation unto this troubled world. We must seek to find out who He really is.
She then gives fleshly, conventional, non-spiritual wisdom as to the way man worships God. She says that her family has always been _________________ (you fill in the denomination, religion, organization, or affiliation). And we’ve always worshipped this way. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain. V. 20. “Mountain” denotes a physical location, place, or situation. You say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Again, we see a division into two camps, two traditions, two physical locations, two dogmas. Both are utterly devoid of spiritual truth; both are looking on the temporary fleshly things of man’s concept of worshipping and not His true way of worshipping Him.
The Savior then straightens her out and tells her that the Father is not worshipped in either geographical location. In fact, “you worship what you do not know,” but we know what we worship, for the truth was delivered to Jacob/Israel (v. 21-22; Psm. 149:19). “True worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father also does seek such to worship Him (23).” The Father, we now find out, is the one to worship (“We know what we worship…true worshippers shall worship the Father…”). The Father is seeking and searching for someone to worship Him in spirit and in truth. He is aching for someone to cut through all the garbage of false concepts and truly know who He is.
In His very next breath Yahshua lets us know more fully who the Father is. God (Elohim) is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. 4:24, NEB. Wait a minute. In verse 23 it is the Father who is worthy of worship and is seeking true spiritual worshippers. Now in this verse Yahshua tells us that God is Spirit and we need to worship this Spirit in a true spiritual manner. Therefore, the One who we should worship is the Father, who is God the Supreme Being, who is Spirit. THE FATHER=GOD=SPIRIT.
Now we have established that the Father is God and that He is Spirit. Yahshua the Messiah is the image, the likeness of the invisible Spirit/God, who is the Father. And all fullness and all completeness of the Spirit (God) dwelt bodily in Yahshua. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Col. 1:19. Fullness and completeness is all there is. Therefore, all of the Godhead resided in the Messiah. All the fullness of Deity was there inside of him. God (the Spirit), who is the Father, dwelt bodily in Yahshua. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Col. 2:9. “Fullness” is defined as the state of being complete or full. The fullness of a gallon of milk is exactly 128 ounces. If the fullness of that gallon is poured into another container, then all of that gallon is in the other container. There is not any more anywhere else. All of the Godhead was in the Messiah. Yahweh, the Spirit/God of the Hebrews was in the Messiah. That is what made Yahshua the Messiah—all the Godhead/Spirit/Father—dwelling bodily within.
“For there is one God,” who is invisible, who is our Savior, and one mediator between this invisible Spirit-Father-God and men: Yahshua the Messiah. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen…For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour…For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Yahshua Messiah. I Tim. 1:17; 2:3, 5.And this God, the Spirit-Father, “was in Messiah, reconciling the world unto Himself.” II Cor. 5:19. Yahshua is the mediator [#3316, mesites, a go between, a mediator = one who stands between two sides, who is the medium for conciliation between the two]. The two here are Spirit and man. That is why God (Elohim), who is the Father and Spirit, poured Himself fully into a human vessel, and that Lamb “through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God” and thus cleansed our consciences so that we could serve and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
[This is Chapter 13 from my book Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality. For more go to the top of this page. Just click “Ebook…”]